Safety crank



ASSZ@ L, RUDOLPH SAFETY CRANK May l l Original Filed Aug. '7. 1922 OlmiIrv N d@ m A TES LAWRENCE RUDOLPH, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR TORUDY RUDOLPH, F

- PENSACOLA, FLORIDA.

SAFETY CRANE.

Original application filed August 7, 1922, Serial No. 580,368. Dividedand this application filed November 15, 1922. Serial No. 601,127.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, LAWRENCE RUDOLPH,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Louisville, in the county ofJefferson and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Safety Cranks, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in safetycrank devices for internal combustion engines, especially those employedin motor vehicles, motor boats, and aerial navigating machines, and thepresent invention is an embodiment of the generic invention disclosed inmy application led August 7,1922, Serial No.

580,368 of which said application the present is a divisional one.

In this application `I make no generic claim to the invention in commonbetween this application and that of my original application as it isthe intention in this application to claim only the specific embodimentherein shown and described and the equivalents thereof within the termsof the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevation (the support and casing being shown insection) illustrating the present embodiment of my invention.

Figure 2 is a vertical section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1. Figure 3 isa detail section and part elevation on the line 3-8 of Figure 1.

In the drawing, in which like numerals of reference designate like partsin all the figures, the casing or support consists of the parts 8 and 9asuitable shafts bearings for the two part crank shaft 4X and dy. Thecrank shaft parts in this embodiment of the invention do not lie inalignment with one another as in the embodiment to which specific claimsare drawn in my original application, but lie parallel in differentplanes.

The crank shaft part 4X carries the clutch element 3 which engages aclutch element 2 on the engine shaft 1 for purposes of cranking. Thecrank shaft part 4 has a crank 29x by which it is adapted to be turned.The two parts of the cranking shaft 4x and 4" are connected together bya pair of spiral gears 14X and l5X which are keyed to the shafts to turnwith them by keys 24 and 16.

and these are provided with The cranking shaft parts, however, have alongitudinal motion relative to the spiral gears.

The cranks shaft parts @indy are also connected to move axially inunison by a yoke 25 held between collars 26 on the shaft part 4X andcollars 27 on the shaft part LP. A thrust spring 5x is located,preferably, between the spiral gear 15x and the collar 26 and a space isleft between the collar 26 and the gear 15x when the parts are in theposition shown in FigureY 1 to allow a small amount of lost motion tooccur before the gear 15X can engage the collar 26 in order that when akick back occurs the gear 15x may be brought into firm mesh with some ofthe teeth 21x of a pivoted dog 17X which is pivoted at 18X to the casingand operates between stops 19X and 20x. A leaf spring 22x is alsoprovided to continuously tend to hold the dog against the stop 19X.

In operation assume 'the parts to be in the position shown in dottedlines in Figure l; when it is desired to crank the engine the operatorpushes in on the crank 29X to mesh the clutch elements 3 and 2. He thenstarts to turn the crank in a clockwise direction which causes the gears14X and 15X to lie against the stop 28X and brings the gear 15x fullyout of the engagement with the teeth of the. dog 17x. The rotation ofthe gear 15x in the counterclockwise direction (Figure 2) causes thedisengagement of its teeth from those of the dog and the spring 22X willpush the dog to the position shown in Figure 1. Should a kick back7occur, however, the rotation will be imparted to the gear 15X in aclockwise direction as shown in Figure 2 and the gear 15X will creepoutwardly or toward the collar 26, rock the dog 17X to the dotted lineposition of Figure 3, and cause meshing to occur between the teeth ofthe gear 15X and the teeth 21x of thel dog 17, thereby causing the gear15X to be thrust quickly from left to right in Figure l and byengagement with the collar 26 thrust the parts quickly from the fullline to the dotted line position shown in Figure 1 and therebydisengages the clutch.

The space between the gear 15x and collar 26 shown in Figure 1 isdesigned to allow the teeth of the gear 15x to mesh with the teeth 21Xsecurely before the thrust strains are encountered.

From the foregoing: description, taken in connection With theaccompanying drawing, it is thought that the complete construction,operationfand advantages ofy the present embodiment of my invention Willbe clear to those skilled in the art.

What I claim is:

l. In apparatus of the class described, a support having shaft bearings,a tWo part cranking shaft journaled in said bearings, spiral gearsconnecting said shaft parts, a yoke havingvv bearings in which saidshaft parts are journaled, means on said shaft parts cooperating withsaid yoke and causing' said shaft' parts to move axially in unison, astop adapted to be engaged by said spiral! gears, When in the crankingposition,

- a throw out spring carried by one of said shaft parts, a clutchelement on one of said shaft parts adapted to engage a similar clutchelement on-the shaft of the engine to be' cranked, means for turning theother shaft part to impart cranking motion, a pivoted toothed' dog andstops limiting the pivotalF movement of said dog, said dog hav ingteeth' adapted, when said dog is 1n one position, to register With theteeth of one of said spiral gears, said dog normally lying in contactwith one of said spiral gears and arrangedwhereby, When'theparts are inthe cranking position, the teeth of said dog Will be out of registerWith those ofsaid opposing spiral gear and, when said' opposing spiralgear is kicked back, it will rotate said dog to bring its teethV intomeshing alignment with the opposing spiral gear for the purposesspecified.

2; In apparatus of the class described, a support having shaft bearings,a two part cranking shaft journalecb in saidf bearings and lyingindifferent planes, a yoke having bearings in which said shaft parts arejournaled, spiral gears on said shaft parts 1which gears are keyed totheir respective shaft parts to turn With the same While permittingrelative axial movement of the shaft paris and crank, collars on theshaft parts for sus taining the yoke in a definite position with respectto the shaft parts, a pivoted toothed dog adapted to be engaged by oneof said spiral gears when a kick back occurs to thrust the parts of thecranking shaft outwardly, one of said cranking shaft parts having aclutch element and the other haring a gear element, a stop limiting-themove ment ofthe spiral gears in one direction, one of saidspiral gearshaving 'an amount lost motion' to enable its teeth to beineshed' withthose of thedog before the thrust force is applied to the shaft todisengage the clutch'. Y v

Y LAWRENCE RUD (DLPII.

